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Mid Ulster bin collection days

Mid Ulster collects the blue recycling bin, the brown food and garden bin, and the black refuse bin every fortnight. The policy is one black bin, one brown bin and up to two blue bins per household in each fortnightly cycle. Everything in the blue bin must be clean, dry and loose. Food and garden waste share the brown bin. A second brown bin is charged for.

Last checked against 5 sources (www.midulstercouncil.org).

What goes in each bin

Black bin for waste that cannot be recycled · General waste

Bin · Every two weeks

Yes please

  • Nappies and sanitary waste
  • Polystyrene, wrappers and cling film
  • Pet waste and cat litter

Not in this one

  • Food waste, from vegetable peelings to plate scrapings, which goes in the brown bin
  • Paper, plastic containers and glass, which go in the blue bin

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

Blue bin for dry recycling · Mixed recycling

Bin · Every two weeks

Yes please

  • Clean, dry paper, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, telephone books and catalogues, and envelopes without padding
  • Cardboard, cereal boxes, egg boxes, postcards, greeting cards and clean frozen food boxes
  • Paper-based cartons for fruit juice, soup and chopped tomatoes
  • Empty aerosols that are not crushed or pierced, rinsed food and drink cans, biscuit tins, and clean foil trays
  • Rinsed plastic bottles and containers, including milk, drinks, shampoo and sauce bottles, yoghurt pots, household cleaning products without a spray trigger, butter or margarine cartons and plastic food trays
  • Glass bottles and jars

Not in this one

  • Nappies, polystyrene, shredded paper, dirty waste, ceramics, pottery, food, general waste and window glass
  • Items in plastic bags
  • Napkins, tissues, wallpaper, dirty pizza boxes and other food-stained boxes, dirty food tins, and plastic bags or wrapping

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

Brown bin for food waste · Food waste

Bin · Every two weeks

Yes please

  • Meat and fish, dairy, vegetables and fruit, uneaten food, bread, cakes, pastries, rice, pasta and beans
  • Tea bags, tea leaves and ground coffee
  • Food moved from a free kitchen caddy, lined with kitchen paper, newspaper or a compostable liner

Not in this one

  • Glass, metal, rubber, nappies, plastic, textiles, and animal or pet waste

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

Brown bin for garden waste · Garden waste

Bin · Every two weeks

Yes please

  • Grass cuttings, leaves, cuttings and prunings, shrubs, weeds, twigs and branches
  • Hedge clippings and flowers
  • Cold ashes and shredded paper

Not in this one

  • Soil, rubble, glass, metal, plastic and pet waste

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

Check your bin day

Use Mid Ulster’s own page for your bin day

The council's bin collection date finder needs a browser, which BinWeek's lookup service does not run, so the page links to the council's own finder.

Find my bin day on www.midulstercouncil.org(opens in a new tab)

Set your own bin day

These dates are the ones you enter. BinWeek does not get them from Mid Ulster. Check them on the council’s site (opens in a new tab) (www.midulstercouncil.org).

Black bin for waste that cannot be recycled · General waste

The council’s pages say this is collected every two weeks. Your round may differ, so use the pattern you were given.

Blue bin for dry recycling · Mixed recycling

The council’s pages say this is collected every two weeks. Your round may differ, so use the pattern you were given.

Brown bin for food waste · Food waste

The council’s pages say this is collected every two weeks. Your round may differ, so use the pattern you were given.

Brown bin for garden waste · Garden waste

The council’s pages say this is collected every two weeks. Your round may differ, so use the pattern you were given.

Add to calendar

A private calendar link for the pattern you entered, with an alert at 6pm the evening before. The link contains those days. BinWeek does not keep a copy, and anyone with the link can see them.

Email me the night before

You can still add these days to your calendar.

How often each bin is collected

Collection frequency by bin for Mid Ulster
BinCollected
Black bin for waste that cannot be recycled · General wasteEvery two weeks
Blue bin for dry recycling · Mixed recyclingEvery two weeks
Brown bin for food waste · Food wasteEvery two weeks
Brown bin for garden waste · Garden wasteEvery two weeks

Garden waste

Garden waste is collected free of charge. One brown bin per property is collected with the household service. A second brown bin costs £50 a year. Compostable caddy liners are £1 per roll at council recycling centres and depots. Reusable garden waste sacks are £2 each. Food and garden waste share the brown bin and are collected fortnightly. Kitchen caddies are free from the Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon depots.

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

If your bin was missed

Report a missed bin if it was out by 7.30am and the crew did not take it because of a breakdown, bad weather, roadworks, or because it was presented correctly and still left. Only a resident, or someone connected with the property, can report it, and only once. Leave the bin at the kerbside. The council may check CCTV. It will not come back before the next scheduled day for an overloaded bin, a bin that was not at the kerb, the wrong bin, a damaged bin, a holiday change, contamination, or an unauthorised second or commercial bin. A tag on the handle means the contents were wrong. Other queries go to environmentalservices@midulstercouncil.org. You have 72 hours from 3.30pm on the collection day. Wait until after 3.30pm. A Monday collection can be reported until 3.30pm on Thursday.

Source: www.midulstercouncil.org (opens in a new tab), read

Your nearest tip

Good to know in Mid Ulster

  • Put the bin at the kerbside by 7.30am. Break down large boxes. Rinse cans, tins and plastic bottles. Do not bag the blue-bin recycling.
  • Plastic bags and wrapping are refused in the blue bin. The blue bin page says some of them, including carrier bags, bread bags, cereal liners and bubble wrap, can go to supermarket collection points if they are not biodegradable or compostable.
  • Kitchen caddies are free from the Magherafelt, Cookstown and Dungannon depots. Liners are £1 a roll. Garden waste sacks are £2. The included brown bin is not the charged one. The extra brown bin is £50 a year.
  • From Monday 24 July 2023 the council has householder paint drop-off points at the Cookstown, Drumcoo and Magherafelt household waste recycling centres, through Community RePaint.
  • The household recycling page says Mid Ulster has had the highest recycling rate of the councils in Northern Ireland. It does not print the percentage on that page.
  • A contaminated bin gets a tag on the handle and stays until the next collection. You can report a missed bin only once. The page also says bins collected by one-armed vehicles are explained on a separate page, which was not read for this entry.
  • The household recycling page also describes a reusable nappy scheme and a school-uniform reuse scheme with local cancer charities. Those schemes are separate from the kerbside bins.

Bin questions in Mid Ulster

How often are bins collected in Mid Ulster?

The blue bin, the brown bin and the black bin are each collected fortnightly. Check the council's bin collection day page for your address, and put the bin out by 7.30am.

How many bins can I put out?

The policy is one black bin, one brown bin and up to two blue bins per fortnightly cycle. A second brown bin can be collected for £50 a year.

What goes in the brown bin?

Food and garden waste, including meat, fish, dairy, peelings, tea and coffee, grass, hedge clippings, twigs and cold ashes. Not soil, rubble, plastic, nappies, glass or pet waste.

How do I report a missed bin in Mid Ulster?

After 3.30pm on collection day, and within 72 hours, if the bin was out by 7.30am and was not refused for contamination, damage or access. Leave it at the kerbside. You can report it once.

Guides that may help

Nearby councils